


Jones

by RonniRotten



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Gen, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-04
Updated: 2018-03-04
Packaged: 2019-03-26 15:01:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13860201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RonniRotten/pseuds/RonniRotten
Summary: For lluviadinoche’s writing contest on Tumblr.Alfred got a concussion and can’t remember a lot. He needs a good friend to help him emotionally. Lucky him, he has Romano, that stranger in his contacts. But Romano is Lovino–Romano Lovino Vargas–a forgotten bestie. Guess who shows up to help





	Jones

There’s something about Jones that’s changed. The concussion in the summer really scrambled his head. He has headaches all the time and he reads more slowly than before. To the average person, he seems to be doing better. I know he’s not. He doesn’t remember last spring when we became friends after years of passing each other in the school hallways. He doesn’t remember any of the secrets I shared with him or what he shared with me. But he smiles and laughs as if that fastball swerved in the right direction.

“ _Heya broski!_ ” lights up on my screen as I lay on my bed. I open the text and snort at the irony–Alfred still texts me, the stranger in his contacts called “Romano.” I have to fight the urge to tell him who I am, after all, to him Lovino Vargas is that angry choirboy with no sense of humor who lives to tear his ego down.

“ _Hey Fred. What’s up? You alright?_ ” I reply quickly. I’m the one who texts him first every night. He doesn’t contact me when he’s feeling good, so I have to wonder, for only a short while.

“ _Tbh I need a hug ;-;_ ” that blue light brightens as I roll over onto my side. My fingers hit the screen when another message pops up:

“ _Baseball tryouts were tonight... I miss playing so much. Like a piece of me is gone now. I thought I would be able to deal._ ”

“ _It’s okay, the world isn’t over. You have so much to discover._ ” I hit send and try not to punch myself in the face–what kind of fortune cookie bullshit was that?! He can’t play his favorite game in the world anymore–no major league contracts, no college scholarships, no more hanging out with his team in the dugout. Who am I kidding, the biggest part of his life is gone and I am one of the few people who knows how much he’s hurting.

“ _Romano–If that’s really ur name–everything is over. I’m useless now._ ” He texts back five minutes later. Five minutes of deciding what to say, probably so I don’t worry. I do.

“ _You’re not useless! I know you’re not! You’re a genius in math and science. You’re always trying to help people. You do so much good still._ ” I’m amazed that there are no typos in there–my fingers had flown over the keyboard in a frenzy.

“ _Ur just saying that…I don’t know how u could know that stuff even if it were true._ ” I wanna scream it in his ear that I know so much more than he thinks I do. I want to tell him that we are best friends. But to rattle his memory like that–to tell him that the accident causing him so much stress now also made him forget one of the most important people in his life up to this point–I wouldn’t be doing him any favors. I shouldn’t do it, but I have to. I’m scared—for him.

“ _Do you wanna go for a walk? I’ll stop by your place and then maybe we can get water ice._ ” I pause for a moment before sending it. I don’t want him to be alone. I don’t know if I can trust him to be alone. He needs more than a hug–more than black san-serif pixels to reassure him.

He doesn’t reply.

“ _I won’t hurt you. Make Matt answer the door if you want. Sitting in your room with your thoughts won’t do shit!_ ” I add in another message.

Ten minutes later and still no reply. I cave in. I leap off my bed and get fully dressed. There’s no time to waste. I run out of my room and leap down the stairs two at a time and reach the door. The noise brings unwanted attention.

“Romano Lovino Vargas!” Nonno shouts as he peeks out from the sitting room, unhappy and unshaven as ever. I just ruined his nap.

“What on earth are you doing?! It’s your turn to cook tonight!” he continues. Like I forgot about that! I roll my eyes and slip my shoes on.

“Get Feli or Marcello to do it! This is an emergency!” I groan. He’s skeptical. Of course he is! I woke him up from his daily nap!

“What could be so important for you to let your family starve?” he scoffs. Way to try and guilt trip me, old man! He should just go back to sleep!

“You won’t starve! My friend is in a bad place and he needs my help! I won’t let him hurt himself!” I hiss just before walking out the door.

The trip down the street would probably have been nice if I weren’t terrified–birds singing, the warm sun on my back. I don’t enjoy it like I should. Four houses down and I am taking a huge risk. I arrive on the doorstep too soon for my liking.

With a quick knock and a little patience, the door opens. Matt smiles awkwardly at me–it’s been so long.

“Hi, Lovino. What brings you here?” he asks hesitantly.

“Ciao. I’m here for Fred.”

“He’s upstairs, do you wanna go up to hang out?”

“No. Could you please get him down here and tell him Romano is waiting for him?” I ask wearily. I sound like I wanna strangle the jerk, but a worried me just doesn’t come off as nice. Matt gets it, I think. He gently closes the door and leaves me to wait. I don’t know why I expect to hear some random crashing sound effects like in the old cartoons–maybe because that’s how these brothers get along on bad days. This is definitely a bad day.

And then the door creaks open.

“Lovino?” Alfred asks and tilts his head like a clueless puppy.

“Yeah, that’s my middle name. Put your shoes on and walk with me.” I order him. He is so lost and he looks like shit. His hair is a mess and there’s a weight on his back that’s pulling the corners of his mouth down. He listens to me and grabs his slides. I will not comment on his lack of fashion sense–I tell myself that. God dammit that’s hard!

“Let’s go.” he says and steps into the world. He has as much grace and poise as a corpse. I don’t know if that thought could haunt me later.

“So you’ve been Romano this whole time?” Jones asks warily as we head for the park. I can see it in his eyes, he doesn’t believe me for a second—he doesn’t want to believe it.

“Yeah. After winter break last year, we got assigned a science project and we got paired. We became friends and then best friends.”

“Why didn’t you say anything sooner?” he asks with the face of a kicked puppy. Oh man…

“Well,” I say as I focus on kicking a rock down the pavement, “you didn’t remember me and everything that happened–I’m an ass, sure, but I wasn’t ready to add more stress, more guilt on you. You had enough to catch up on.”

“Man I still forget a lot and you tell me this now? You abandoned me when I needed you?” he huffed, completely dumbfounded and accusing. That’s a load of crap!

“Romano texted you every day–I was the one who constantly checked in on you. The only thing missing from this friendship was my face. You know it’s too crazy to believe–the guy who verbally murdered you in front of everyone is your friend now.” I argue and stuff my hands in my pockets. He watches me curiously as we enter the park. He’s gonna bump into someone on the path! I find a bench and drag him to it. We sit down and I sigh:

“Wanna tell me more about what’s bugging you, or is this too much to take in?” He glances at me and slumps over with his forearms on his legs.

“I miss baseball, I told you that. But there’s more to it. I guess I centered my entire life around it and now I’m just lost, Romano.”

“There are other things to do that you enjoy–you have video games, comic books, science stuff. You have friends who aren’t athletic like Kiku and Tolys.”

“And you I guess,” he snorts–rude–then he sighs, “but I didn’t build my future around games and friends. Hell, you and Matt are the only people in school who ever wonder if I’m okay.”

“No one else does?” I ask with a knot forming in my stomach, “How much have you held in?”

“Take a guess.”

“I dragged you out of your house, told you a painful secret, all because I thought you would hurt yourself—on purpose. I think there’s more than I can imagine. So start talking.”

“Were you always this forceful when I had a problem?”

“No. I was worse.” I chuckle, “You always talked. For old times sake, humor me.”

“Everyone expected me to be a star athlete. Dad groomed me from the start. He can’t look at me now, like I’m a waste of time. Mom still doesn’t know what to say now that my chances at a scholarship are gone. The medical bills ruined my chances of paying for college.” he says and his lower lip quivers. I put my arm around his shoulder, expecting him to continue. He doesn’t.

“You have brains, Jones. I know you’ve got a knack for math, even now. You’re smart.” I comment, hoping like hell it’ll help.

“My grades are slipping, I can’t remember my notes well and I’m such a failure—“ he starts to whine. I stop him before he believes the crap he is spilling,

“A 99 to a 93 average isn’t that bad. It’s still amazing and you know it. Speed is a non-issue and obviously you found a way to get the knowledge in your head and then back out on paper.”

“Then why doesn’t anyone say anything about how awesome it is that I can still do this stuff with a brain injury? Ever. I keep hearing I used to be so much better and I have to work to get to that level again.” he groans as tears trickle down his cheeks.

“You are never gonna get back on that level–why downgrade? You lost half a year of schooling and yet you’re ahead of almost everyone.” I say with the faintest hint of a smile. His mouth twitches into a sad half-grin while he shakes to keep from crying.

“I’m sorry no one mentions it, but you are doing so well and it’s inspiring. Even without sports you’re still a hero.” I add before wrapping my arms around him and pulling him close. He gasps and shudders as he finally lets all of his frustration and anger out to pool on my shoulder. I don’t think I need this shirt before laundry day.

I rub soothing circles on his back while he sobs for what feels like an eternity. The cooling air burns my nose and cheeks bright red and I want to skip the water ice and go home. Then he hugs me back and suddenly not even a blizzard would pull me away. He needs this. He needs me. I stroke his hair with my other hand to calm him further. I look up for the first time in forever and it’s dusk.

“Romano…” he whimpers, “I’m sorry I don’t remember being your friend. But thank you for still being mine.”

“Don’t apologize, for something you couldn’t control. We can start over.” I tell him.

“I’d like that, Vino…” he sniffles. I smirk, though he can’t see it.

“How about we find a place to wash your face and then go get that water ice–or if you want we can get McDonalds or something. It’s up to you.” I suggest when he finishes crying. I am praying he goes for the ‘or something’ option. He pulls away and chuckles.

“I forgot my wallet at home. I have Italian ice in the freezer so we can eat that and catch up with some video games.” he offers sheepishly. What can I do? I smirk and nod. Anything to make him feel better. And after today, I know he will.

There’s something about Jones that’s just changed. He has a friend who can see through his bullshit. He has a cheerleader and a friendly ear. He won’t have to feel like he has to hide his thoughts and feelings. He’s got me, and I will be there for him. He will be great and I will curse out anyone who says differently–even him. And I know he’ll be there for me too. He can overcome this and any obstacle in his way. 

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t normally write 1st person so I don’t know if this is any good


End file.
